A Kiss To Send Us Off
by Well.La.Di.Dar
Summary: Bella is being held back and is blind to what is right in front of her. Can Edward wake her up and make her smell the proverbial coffee?


A/N  **This is my very first story and I've been wanting to write for ages so I'm pretty nervous about actually putting it out there. I would really appreciate feedback and criticisms are welcome, I'm very willing to take on any advice that would improve this story. And even if you think the story is worth carrying on or not. So yeah, reviews would be appreciated muchly. Thank you : )**

Chapter 1

It was nearing 8oclock when I pulled on Alice's gravel driveway that led to her ridiculously oversized house. It was a very familiar sight, what with me coming here at least once a week. I could remember the first time I had gazed upon the celebrity sized mansion that Alice called home, I felt more than a little awe-struck and just a teensy bit like a peasant. But it matched Alice so completely; it had her traits of flamboyancy, a little bit of eccentricity but completely warm and welcoming. I had known her for precisely 2 hours when she insisted that I go round her house and help her 'internet shop'. That was about the time she discovered that Bella Swan does not internet shop. She had whined for ages but got over the utterly traumatic event that was the fact I didn't want to look at pictures of overpriced clothes, and put on a film instead. A viewing of Romeo and Juliet, several cat calls over Leonardo DiCaprio and quite a few tissues later we were firm friends and have been since. That was almost 4 years ago now.

I had moved to Forks to live with my dad after my mom remarried and I felt very much like the gooseberry. My mom and dad had separated when I was very young and I had lived with my mom in Phoenix up until she got married. I mean what newlyweds would have wanted a gangly 14 year old hanging around? So I saved myself from all of the inevitable inappropriate displays of affection that I'm sure I would have witnessed, sucked it up and moved in with Charlie. One of my finer decisions I think. With my instant friendship with Alice I was pulled into her bubble of popularity and found my stride in amongst the crowds of people at Forks high. I had always been the shy and retiring type in Phoenix but with Alice that's just not an option. She's one of those annoying people who can walk into a room and heads automatically turn. She thrives in the social spotlight and I suppose through the years it rubbed off on me. Slightly.

I turned off my engine, grabbed my bags and hopped out of my truck. My footsteps crunched as I walked over the gravel towards the large arch that housed Alice's grand wooden front door. The door flew open before I had a chance to knock and revealed Alice in all of her 5 foot nothing glory. I had always marvelled at (and envied) her inability to look anything but perfect. Her short inky black hair always looked like it had just been professionally styled and there was never a smudge or foundation line to be seen when it came to her makeup, not that she needed it anyway her pale skin was flawless anyway. But I'm not bitter. Not. At. All.

I smiled at her after I had shut the door behind me and put my bags down, but was surprised to see a suspiciously serious expression adorning her usually over cheery face. I frowned as I asked her what was wrong. She looked down and took a big gulp of air. Okay, this was either someone had died or the hot pink shirt with the 'cute little black hearts' had sold out. She looked back up at me and in a slow level voice, which in itself is very unlike her, said, "I have a serious question to ask you…" I raised my eyebrows in concern, urging her to carry on. She looked at me for a few more minutes her bright blue eyes not giving anything away. With the same seriousness etched on her face, she pulled out a small rectangular box in her right hand from behind her back, "Catch Me If You Can or…." She then proceeded to bring her left hand out in the same way, "Titanic?... Both classics." She waved the DVD cases in my scowling face, grinning, presumably pleased with her acting expertise. I narrowed my eyes at her and huffed, why do I fall for it every time? Every single time. You would think I would become wise to it considering she does it at least once a day. I couldn't stay mad though as I grinned devilishly and replied, "Whatever will annoy Jasper the most." She laughed her dainty little laugh as we said "Titanic" in unison.

Jasper is Alice's long suffering boyfriend, she has been with him for nearly two years now and he had become one of my best friends and kind of 'one of the girls' as weird as that is. You would have thought that Alice being in such a full on relationship would have taken its toll on our friendship but somehow it hadn't, instead Jasper had just become a part of us so it wasn't weird to be around them. Of course there were times when they needed to be alone and I was careful not to intrude on that time of theirs. But most of the time we were happy to hang out as a little group, having regular movie nights in which we loved to watch Leonardo DiCaprio films like the teenage girls we are, much to Jaspers annoyance. I picked up the bags I had discarded earlier and went to go and change into my pj's so I could just slob around the couch before Jasper came. I slipped on my flannel bottoms and my old Led Zeppelin t-shirt and headed downstairs taking the two bottles of wine I had bought with me. It would have been at one time hot chocolate that accompanied our ogling of Leo but when we were 16 we stole a bottle of rose from Alice's mom and drank the whole thing. We've been hooked ever since.

I traipsed into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of glasses from the cupboard to pour our wine. Alice smiled her thanks when I handed her the glass full of sweet pink wine. We stood in silence for a minute sipping our wine and leaning against the kitchen counters, both in our nightclothes although Alice looked decidedly more glamorous. How you look glamorous in pyjamas I will never know. Alice broke the alcohol fuelled silence with a high pitched "oh!" I cringed slightly and raised my eyebrow in question. "I forgot to tell you, we'll be having a guest tonight…" she continued.

It's not unusual for us to occasionally invite someone else over, although we hadn't done it in a while. I think we were put off the idea when Alice thought it was a _great_ idea to invite Jessica Stanley over. Yeah…not one of Alice's greatest ideas ever. There are only so many times you can listen to the story about, how her mom 'allegedly' got it on with George Clooney when she was young which led to Jessica's own conspiracy that she's actually the daughter of said ultra-famous film star. After hearing that that say 100,000 friggin' times I guarantee you will want to submerge your head into a bucket of leeches. I refuse to believe that I swoon over any member of Jessica Stanley's family.

"Oh, who is it?" I asked her, to which all I received was a sly smile which screamed 'for me to know and you to find out'. I frowned at her, I hated it when I didn't know something and Alice knew damn well that fact which just made her smirk all the more. I decided not to probe further, she wouldn't tell me if she didn't want me to know, she was annoying like that. _God, I hope it's not that foreign exchange student…Gunter or something, _I thought to myself. He was overweight, sweaty and I don't think I ever saw him when he wasn't stuffing his face with various kinds of sausage. This in itself opened him up to various phallic jokes. _Poor boy, he just likes his sausage._ Over the years Alice had set me up with as many boys as she could, much to my dismay, but it was different circumstances now. She knew that. As if sensing where my thoughts had led she quickly added, "Don't worry Bell, its nothing like that he's just a friend of Jazz's that I was talking to the other day. He seems nice".

I quirked an eyebrow at her but accepted her explanation. As we were walking to the living room the doorbell. "Oh that must be them", Alice squealed. Yes, _squealed._ Even after years of being together they still reacted that way about seeing each other, it both amazed and sickened me. As she scampered off to answer the door I made my way into the living room to set up the DVD, yes I was curious about who our mysterious guest was but i didn't want to appear to be too curious. _If I get a whiff of Cumberland ill know its Gunter._ I chuckled at my own joke a little. I heard the muffled voices in the hall, and it confirmed that our guest was male, but it lacked the German lilt that Gunter possessed it sounded distinctly American. I sighed in relief, _I guess I don't have to kick Alice's scrawny behind after all._

"Well hello there Bella, you look positively beautiful tonight", Jasper said as he appeared in the door of the living room. I snorted in response, "Well hello there you smooth talker, you!" I laughed and pretended to be embarrassed. Jaspers always been very good looking and could charm a camel if he felt the need. His shaggy blonde hair served to make him look like he should be off surfing somewhere exotic and his blue eyes were always sparkling. I had had abit of a crush on him when we first met but when he started seeing Alice I got over it and he quickly became like a brother to me. I vowed to take that titbit of information to my grave; I would never live it down if he ever found out. I scanned his outfit and his black jeans and check shirt confirmed that Alice had badgered him to wear it. Poor boy never stood a chance, I remember when he wore tartan trousers the once, Alice nearly had an aneurysm, I'm fairly sure she burnt them. Although I can't judge I mean even I know that tartan trousers are abit of a fashion no-no.

He just winked at me and walked further into the room and fell onto one of the plush couches. I followed his lead and sat on the sofa adjacent to the one Jasper was now deposited on and waited for Alice and the guest to make an appearance. It was only a moment or two before Alice came prancing into the room closely followed by… _Edward Cullen? _Huh. I wasn't expecting that. I had never really spoken to him but I knew he was in a couple of my classes. Biology and Math I think. Edward had always run in different circles to us and we just never really had the occasion to introduce ourselves. "Bella, this is Edward…" she said to me gesturing in Edwards's direction. "…and Edward this is Bella" she finished pointing to me. I looked at him and smiled, gaining a slightly shy smile in return. I was quite surprised by his demeanour standing in front of me, he had always seemed somewhat confident at school, not arrogant but certainly not insecure. And rightly so, Edward has always been very handsome, with dishevelled copper tinged hair and sharp features he had never been short of admirers. Yet standing in Alice's huge living room he seemed shy and embarrassed, his hands shoved in his pockets and his head slightly bowed.

I was jolted out of my Edward Cullen dissection by a deep laugh from the man himself. I looked up at him with raised eyebrows in question. He nodded to my t shirt and then to his own, "We match". Sure enough Edward was wearing an identical Led Zeppelin t-shirt, black with the fallen angel image in white printed on it. I laughed with him until he gave me a playful scorn and said in an overly camp voice," Gosh Bella, you could have told me you were wearing this tonight, how embarrassing!" I let out a loud laugh and replied in an equally camp impersonation;" Whatever biatch, you just want to be me" He laughed before we both smiled broadly at each other. "Nice to meet you…" I chuckled while I held my hand out to him. "Nice to meet you too" he replied as he took my hand in his.


End file.
